The Four Horsemen

               Four horsemen placed their feet upon the ground, and looked to their completed work. It was done. The world was gone, and all that remained was themselves and the carcass of the earth. Their horses lay about the dust finally at rest, and all the riders could do, was wait.                                                 

 Death turned his head to the left, and saw nothing. No plants grew, no animals roamed, and all he felt was their absence in his chest.                                            

War looked to the right, and felt the dust of bones beneath his feet. He had no enemies left to fight, and so his sword fell from hand.

Famine looked ahead, and heard silence. No babies cry, no wails from the starved, and saw no hands reaching out. There was nothing left for her to take.

And finally Pestilence glanced behind, her diseases all but gone. Nothing crawled unseen along the skin, no bacteria upon the air. Her plagues had ended, and no soul carried them on.

They had finished their work, and stood in the wasteland of what was once their home. No one was left to die, or stave, to infect or fight. They watched the sun turn and the stars disappear. The moon rotated and new balls of light sparked into the sky, and still they stayed. They knew not what to do, now that they had finished. Their deaths would not come, and their horses lay asleep; their purpose was gone. And so the Horsemen travelled to the four corners of the earth, and searched for something more.                                              

Death languished in his loneliness, for everything he had ever touched had disappeared, and now there was nothing left to hold.

War rubbed his neck in craving, having only caused the death of people, he now yearned for their camaraderie and celebrations after victory.                   

Famine felt distraught, she had sat with people in their demise, and now missed the lives she had grown to know.                                                                     

And Pestilence was bitter, she had eradicated the weak with ease, and now wished someone had opposed the cancers she had formed.                                    

Then, in the cold husk of their world, a new dawn broke. From the end of one cycle another must be born.             

Life unwound himself from the marrows of the ground, fingers sprouting from the earth like buds. His arms grew forth like stalks, and his torso brought with it new souls. From his burrow, bacteria spread, and from them grew organisms. Cells formed and creatures spread across the land. He followed them where they went, a smile spread across his cheeks at every new creation. He breathed upon the sea beds, and watched as the earth trembled to fill them again. He walked to the mountains, turning peeks cold and making snow fall, and strode on every plain with rain falling in his stead. It was then that Life met Death. His counterpart. At the shore of new beginnings.                                        

Death wept on its shore at the sight of trees flourishing in Life’s footfalls. And Life laughed in the joy of meeting the one who could keep him in check. No earth should overpopulate, for in that way, it kills its host all the same. They took one another in their arms, and shared a moment of soft bliss in the comfort of their equal. A tenderness between the two took place as Deaths pale horse rose from where it slept, the two riders taking to its back, and covered the land in the living once again.                                   

Peace swept through the air with a white flag flourished around her waist. She dusted the empty halls and breathed flames into every firepit. Her feet danced upon the stone floors, and her voice filled the air with music once again. And from her joy, came humankind. They grew from their animal counterparts, and filled the ruins of the old world once more with humanity. She flourished the world with brethren, and as men took up tools in place of weapons, they built upon the soil they once had, and the women that bloomed crafted the arts. They brought forth colour and creations to adorn their new world, together. With her tears Peace wept wine, and in her hand she raised a goblet in toast to the unity of man.                                                                                             

 It was in War’s victory hall that they met. The voice of Peace echoing in its barren chamber, and her feet pounded the stone with dance. His heart softened at seeing her there beside his empty throne. Her hips broad to bear the burden of new beginnings, and her hair the colour of loyalty. He joined her side as the lands filled, and took her hand in unity. War’s red horse found its way to the stables, letting the couple share in their dance for ages to come.                                  

Bounty chuckled into being. His belly swollen with sustenance, and hands roughened with farming sickles. His bearded face beamed as brightly as the sun, and from his laugh grew crops in every field. His hands drew ridges for the rivers to water the earth, and his feet tracked the paths of vegetations growth. And as he cleaned his palms in the waters, fish fluttered from his fingers, filling the oceans with creatures once again.                                    

He met Famine as she hid in his crops, the corn growing ripe beside her. She was as willow as the stalks she dared not touch, and Bounty’s heart swelled at the sight of another thing to restore. He took her hand in his and taught her how to starve the pests, how to manage the sick plants, and kill the unneeded ones. He taught her how to work with nature, and be a part of the worlds regrowth. And so Famine looked to his burly frame and fell in love with the warmth that grew there. Her black horse rose from its knees and joining them in the fields, bringing forth others of its kind to roam the lands beside it.                   

And finally Health arrived to keep them all in check. She rolled back her sleeves, and washed the stain of touch from hands. She took forth the dead and buried them in the ground, found poisoned plants that sprung and pointed Famine to their wake. She looked to the new wounds of man and stitched them closed with fish bone and spiders web. She looked to the blood stained earth and let tears from the skies clean it all away. Health found mothers with swollen bellies and moved the children from within, she cleaned the births and taught the knowledge of medicine in every mortal born. And as she swept, and scrubbed, and cleaned the world, she sought Pestilence. And they met amongst the ill.         

“Do you think you can stop me?” Pestilence asked, her face turned up in regretful pride, to which Health shook her head. Instead the woman joined their hands and shared in the burden of the sick. She cured who she could, and they made their way through the halls of mankind, with Pestilence’s white horse following close behind.

None knew what was to come, only that a new world had arisen once more. Old memories passed from their mind’s, and the Four Horsemen started afresh, roaming the earth, and beside them walked the new four that had many a time before been doused before the end. And they worked on the earth again, together.